Hexagram 18: Gu

Mountain over Wind · 山风蛊 · Tendency: Inauspicious

Structure

• Number: 18 (King Wen sequence)
• Symbol: ䷑
• Upper trigram: Gen (Mountain)
• Lower trigram: Xun (Wind)
• Lines: yin yang yang yin yin yang (bottom to top)

The statement

元亨。利涉大川，先甲三日，后甲三日。

——《周易》

What this hexagram indicates

There are already accumulated problems inside, requiring serious rectification. Suitable for clearing up old issues, fixing processes, and handling long-standing conflicts. Don't be afraid of trouble, nor just do superficial fixes; the longer the problem, the more it needs to be handled from the root.

A Buddhist reading

For Ouyi Zhixu, Gu (Decay) is the sickness that long ease breeds by itself: a vessel left unused grows worms, a body long indulged grows ill. Above, the mountain stops and sends nothing down; below, the wind settles and rises toward nothing, so both sides take the comfortable option and rot sets in. Practitioners have their own version of this, whether clinging fondly to the very path they walk or stirring up old habits inside meditation. Order can become the seed of disorder, he says, and disorder can be turned back into order, but only by someone willing to cross the great river. Rousing the people and nourishing virtue he reads as compassion and wisdom working together.

After Ouyi Zhixu (1599-1655), whose Chan commentary on the Changes reads each hexagram as a stage of practice.

The statement is quoted from the Book of Changes, which is in the public domain. The English reading on this page was prepared for this library.

Related hexagrams

• Previous / Inverted / Opposite: Hexagram 17: Suithe whole figure turned upside down; every line changed to its opposite
• Next: Hexagram 19: Lin
• Nuclear: Hexagram 54: Gui Meilines two to four below, three to five above

Related

• Liu Yao Divination ChartLiu Yao casts a hexagram about one specific matter and reads its structure. Unlike BaZi or Zi Wei, which describe a person, Liu Yao describes how a situation stands at a particular moment. This page walks through the full process from casting to attribution.
• Mei Hua Yi Shu CalculatorMei Hua Yi Shu is traditionally attributed to Shao Yong. What sets it apart is how freely it casts: a time, a spoken number, a direction or something noticed in passing will all serve. It attaches no stems and no relatives, reading the trigrams directly. This page covers casting through to the subject and object.